Wallingford Fisticuffs: 1952

This post originally appeared on Wallyhood, the Wallingford, Seattle neighborhood blog. Visit us for more Wallingford news.

(By Wallyhood)

Paul Dorpat and John Sundsten sent us this classic shot taken in Wallingford, 1952. It appeared in the North Central Outlook along with the story below.

BRAINS, NOT BRAWN, is supposed to be one of the essential differences between man and animal. The ability to reason has enabled man to rise above other earthly creatures. But he has never been entirely tamed, and reason failing, resorts to brawn in an attempt to solve his problems.

Little boys, like grown men, and nations, sometimes find they must try their physical strength in an attempt to settle arguments. But in most cases, while the ensuing conflict allows them to “let off steam” . . . the problem remains unsettled. The above photo illustrates a typical schoolboy’s method of reaching a decision.

This altercation occurred one afternoon last week near N. 42nd and Woodlawn, just after school let out. During the 15-minute session the youths battled up and down the block, closely followed by a group of spectators, whose presence made it difficult for the fighters to end the affair. Fortunately, before too much physical damage was done, a police car appeared. A beckon from an officer of the law magically ended the scrap, and both boys walked quietly to the officer’s car and sat together in the back seat. As the car drew away, the spectators vanished as quickly as they had come. A few minutes later the two boys were talking with Wallingford’s juvenile officer, Walter J. Hauan, whose fatherly manner of approach has helped clear things up for thousands of local youths in the past.

Anyone reading this remember the incident?

The photo was taken by Stan Stapp, who, Paul explains, once was the unofficial “Mayor of Wallingford”:

You can see now-then portraits of Stan and his older brother Milton from a page of the North Central Outlook history issue [right], also from 1952, in February. Many of your readers will remember Stan. A swell fellow he was. Stan loaned me a glossy of the fight picture along with many other neighborhood photos years ago when I was doing some research on Wallingford. Stan died about 6 years ago.

Note the old Safeway Corner at 40th and Stone Way and the caption that explain how new it was in 1952. Now, of course, it is erased and with the recession it holds as a hole.

Go ahead and click on that photo of Stan and Milton. That single page is full of fascinating pieces of Wallingford’s history (The 45th Street Theater; and a throw-away line noting that there used to be a stream that trickled down through Wallingford, following the route of today’s Stone Way).

Paul and John dug these out of the Fremont Library’s archive of the North Central Outlook, and note that there’s a trove of such treasures still there, waiting to be uncovered. Here’s John with the original paper with the photo above.

Which got Paul to thinking: wouldn’t it be a great Wallyhood feature to run more of these glimpses from Wallingford history? All we would need is an intrepid investigator to head down to the Fremont Library’s archives and snap a few pictures.